Transformation Stats – Dustin Smith

Favorite Food: I wish I didn’t have a typical, predictable answer, but… It’s gotta be pizza (shout out to Salerno’s!)

Top 3 Skills Gained

Number 1 has got to be pull ups, right after college I pretty much accepted my fate that I would probably never be able to do even a single one, pretty awesome that I can now say that’s not the case.

Number 2 would be rowing. It’s something that I realized I loved after the first couple of pulls during my first assessment at BluPrint. It was low impact but still got your heart pumping and you get out of it what you put into it. I like the fact that there’s quantifiable results you can get immediately out of a workout, and there’s literally data on the screen that’s displayed while you’re working. If you go in with a strategy, you can keep your eye on the numbers and hold yourself to that. It’s hard to do that on things like burpees or running where there’s not always a running clock staring you right in the face, or a number to correlate how hard you’re actually working. My next big goal is to hit 1:30 on a 500m sprint, my current best is 1:33.6 and am looking forward at chiseling away at those last few, brutal, seconds.

Number 3, I couldn’t not put some sort of nutritional factor on here. It’s probably the most valuable thing I’ve learned in my 20’s to be honest. When I think back to a few years ago, it’s funny to think that I almost completely neglected vegetables all together, not realizing the importance of any sort of nutritional balance. I’m FAR from being well balanced even now, but the small improvements I’ve made have made an undeniable difference in my everyday life. I can’t even take the majority of the credit here however, it’s been a team effort to say the absolute least. I owe a gigantic thank you to my lovely girlfriend Bex who is the mastermind behind most of our meal prepping plans week to week, and who is also a freakin’ badass in the kitchen. And of course to Byron and Janelle who provide a ton of weekly guidance, kick ass recipes, and amazing clinics on all sorts of health related topics. I think the biggest thing for me was not getting inside my head and saying “I’m going to make a lifestyle change and start doing blah blah blah”, but just literally taking those super small steps to healthier choices. Passing on that last beer of the night, reaching for that airport snack that has less sugar and more protein, drinking a shit ton of water and keeping an eye on when you think you might be getting dehydrated, prepping your meals from week to week and spend a few more minutes researching recipes so you’re not swearing at your chicken and broccoli, etc. Also knowing it’s OK that you kind of fall off the wagon, as long as you’re always looking to get back on and move forward.

Personal Transformation Description

It’s insane to me that I’m even typing this out right now because I absolutely did not ever think I’d be sticking around any sort of gym atmosphere for more than a couple of months tops, much like other passing fads that kind of swing through life. Bluprint has undoubtedly helped to build a better me in just about every aspect of my life. Physically, it’s helped with my occupation of being a steadicam operator. I’ve noticed increases in flexibility, stamina, and overall ability due to the work I put in during classes. Arguably even more importantly I’ve noticed being more clear-headed and positive when I start my day off with a morning class before a shoot or work day.

The biggest thing for me is having the quantifiable progress to measure. It never feels stale because you can always adjust what you’re doing to get better. You can set goals for just about anything here and you have an unbelievably helpful and caring support system to help you reach them. Whether that be body fat percentage, a certain weight lifting goal, a rowing time, beating your last named workout, working up from scaled to RX to RX+, etc. Feeling that progress being made is not just rewarding, it’s addicting.